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seeds and the remains of black ants, of another the remains of black 
and white ants. This fact, I think, accounts for the habit of these 
birds, of scratching amongst the decayed leaves round the trunks 
of large trees, where both the black and white ants are sure to 
be found ; indeed it is almost impossible to find a large tree with- 
out a colony of the former round its roots. I am not certain whether 
the nest and eggs in the Museum of the Zoological Society, marked 
as those of the Greater Thimalia, belong to this bird, or to Timalia 
grisea; but as I procured two or three specimens of the Large 
Babbler and not one of 7. grisea, I think that there is every pro- 
bability that the nest and eggs belong to this species. I believe 
that birds of the genus Timalia breed twice during the year, as I 
have found their nests in the months of May and October. The 
nest brought to me in the month of October was found in a tuft of 
high grass in a boggy piece of ground; it contained four eggs of a 
uniform rich blue, 5; in. in length by nearly ;4, in. in width. The 
number of eggs does not exceed four. The nest above-mentioned 
was composed of coarse matted grass at the bottom, and finer bents 
on the sides, lined also with bents of grass ; it was loosely put together. 
There are the nest and eggs of another species of Timalia in the 
Museum of the Zoological Society ; but not having put the bird off 
her nest, I am unable positively to assert to what species they belong. 
I believe, from the smallness of the eggs, that they probably belong 
to Timalia hyperythra or T. hypoleuca; but this point requires 
further investigation. 
Subfamily OrroLina. 
Genus Or1I0LUs. 
OrioLus AuREvsS, Gmel. Inpd1AN OrntoLe or Manco Birp. 
This is common in the Deccan, frequenting banian trees and topes 
of mangoes, whence its name. These birds are particularly fond of the 
fruit of the banian, or Indian fig; the gizzard of one which I shot 
was full of the seeds of this small fig. The Indian Oriole begins to 
breed in the month of June. A pair of these birds built their nest 
on the small forked branches of a flowering tree in my garden at 
Ahmednuggur. The nest was composed of various fibrous substances, 
amongst which pieces of hemp appeared to predominate; with this 
two of the branches were bound together ; some fragments of part of 
a letter which had been torn up and thrown away were inserted ; 
the handwriting on the paper I easily recognized as that of a lady at 
the station. The nest, in its position, and in the manner in which 
it was attached to the boughs, was much like that figured by Mr. 
Yarrell in his work on British Birds as the nest of the Golden Oriole. 
The nest, I believe, contained four eggs, of a white ground with claret- 
coloured spots. This nest, with the eggs, and a pair of the old birds, 
are in the possession of the Zoological Society. 
